George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Monday, April 2, 2012

The Killing Season 2 Premiere

Lots of critics were complaining that The Killing did not reveal Rosie's killer at the end of Season One. They prophesied a mass abandonment of the show this second season, as frustrated fans with short attention spans turned elsewhere. I certainly hope not, for their sake - the first two hours of the new season were just superb!

The very end of last season brought us Holder in cahoots with corrupt forces to nab Richmond as Rosie's killer, via a doctored photograph. Holder is sure that Richmond is the killer, and just wants to move the process along and Linden out of town by closing the case. Linden's on a plane waiting to take off, and gets a call that the photograph was taken when the cameras on the bridge were down. And Richmond, before the police have a chance to arrest him, gets shot by Belko.

This season begins with Linden and Jack leaving the plane - she knows the photo's fake, and is determined to find a real solution to the case - only to learn on a television screen at the airport that Richmond was shot. Jack thinks he was killed, but he's still alive, barely. Holder's in a car with Lt. Gil Sloane (the shady cop in someone's pocket who's working to frame Richmond), when Holder gets a call about Richmond's shooting. Gil could care less.

But Holder cares, and these first two hours tell the fascinating, painful story of Holder starting to move from the dark side back to the honest light of finding Rosie's killer. The real killer, or someone in contact with him (or her), leaves Rosie's bag in front of the Larson home. Holder brings it in for analysis, finds his bossLt. Oakes' approach suspicious - Oakes doesn't want the bag assigned to the usual forensics man - and Holder gives Stu (Oakes' forensics guy) a bogus bag for analysis. When the report comes back with Rosie's prints, Holder has his proof that his department is up to no good on this. It will be a while before Linden can in any way trust and work with him again, but the wheels are in motion for Holder's redemption.

Linden, for her part, finally finds where Richmond was after he left Gwen on the night of Rosie's murder - he was trying to commit suicide in the water. He didn't succeed, decided to live, but didn't want word to get out about this, lest it ruin his campaign (who's going to vote for someone who tried to commit suicide?). We find out now, in the hospital, that he'll live, but he'll be paralyzed for life. Seeking office from a wheelchair could actually make him a more appealing candidate. If he decides to continue the campaign, he'll have the loyal and brilliant Jamie Wright at his side, who puts in another heroic performance tonight.

And so the second season is off and running - even better, I'd say, then the first season at this point - with screws turning and daggers flying in all kinds of directions.

About Me

Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication &
Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997),
Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the
subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science
Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).His short stories
have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.Paul Levinson appears on "The
O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"“NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),“Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous
national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of
television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of
Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

e-mail received from a reader:Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom